Zombozo (Classic)
Herbert J. Zomboni, known by the name of Zombozo, is one of Ben's first enemies. He is a cruel and creepy clown mastermind. Appearance Zombozo looks like a clown with red hair and pale skin. The jumpsuit he wears is striped purple and grey, matching his bow tie. He wears big black shoes, fingerless gloves, and a top hat. Personality Zombozo is portrayed as a grim and cruel clown with a dark sense of humor. He enjoys making dark jokes about his enemies and his feeding, even when acting,Last Laugh and cruelly taking pleasure in using Ben's fear of clowns against him. In Ultimate Alien, he displayed much more sadistic and psychopathic behavior, using lethal weapons, and trying to make Ben and his family suffer by killing Sandra, slowly and scarily. It was even suggested at the beginning of his comeback that he had buried someone. So far, he's the only known person that Charmcaster fears besides her uncle Hex. Zombozo rarely attacks alone, always gathering together a crew to do his dirty work for him. Originally, this was his Circus Freak Trio, but later, Zombozo lead a coalition between Vulkanus, Charmcaster and SevenSeven (and eight others who were all warded off by Max before he was injured fending off SevenSeven). Ironically, despite taking pleasure in scaring others, Zombozo himself is extremely cowardly, having been scared severely by Ghostfreak, ToepickSomething Zombozo This Way Comes, and Gwen's Anodite form.Hit 'Em Where They Live Powers and Abilities Zombozo has enhanced strength, as he was able to overpower Wildmutt with ease, although he can have trouble carrying his over-sized mallet. Zombozo is able to teleport in an explosion of smoke and confetti. Zombozo can terrorize people by creating illusions. Zombozo can stretch his arms very far.The More Things Change: Part 1 Zombozo can feed on fear. The more scared his enemies are, the more stronger he becomes. Equipment Psyclown In his first appearance, Zombozo was using a machine called the "Psyclown" to give him the ability to drain happiness from people when they're laughing. This left them depleted, weakened and sad while also "feeding" Zombozo and making him more stronger. The machine was connected to Zombozo by a line, giving him the ability to fly. Other Equipment Zombozo relies on various clown-based gadgets as weapons, including caltrops, an acid seltzer bottle, steel streamers, an extendable arm, an electric joy buzzer, an energy whip, dynamite, and an over-sized mallet. Weaknesses Even though he feeds on fear, Zombozo is not immune to being scared himself, seen when Ghostfreak and Anodite Gwen terrified him into defeat. He was even scared out of his wits by Toepick's nightmarish face. History Background At some point prior to the original series, Zombozo was bitten by a zombie, left for dead and rescued by a circus. Ben 10 In his first appearance, Zombozo stages shows to bring people in and then uses a machine, which he calls the "Psyclown," to drain the happiness and life energy from them for him to "eat", leaving them depleted and sad. This also seemed to age the victims, as Gwen was shown to be all wrinkly, although this could also mean that Zombozo was feeding on her happiness and life the most. During all this, his Circus Freak Trio robbed the town. Though not notably powerful amongst Ben's enemies, he proved to be somewhat hard to defeat, as Ben was suffering of coulrophobia (the fear of clowns) at the time and so he couldn't fight him properly. Zombozo was eventually defeated when Ben overcame his fear of clowns after seeing the effect of the Psyclown on Max and Gwen, and used Ghostfreak to fight Zombozo (while also destroying the Psyclown and freeing all the happiness inside it) and terrorize him by peeling back his skin, forcing him to escape by 'exploding' in a burst of confetti. (At this point Ben implies that Zs'Skayr may have taken over by saying "Whoa! That kinda even freaked me out."). It is unknown where Zombozo went. Zombozo's henchmen reappeared in later episodes, claiming that they have not seen Zombozo since his defeat. Ultimate Alien After a long absence, Zombozo eventually returned in Hit 'Em Where They Live. After Ben's identity was revealed to the world, he, as the "ringmaster", organized attacks against Ben's family with the help of several of Ben's old enemies (including SevenSeven, Charmcaster, Vulkanus, and eight unidentified villains) in an attempt to get revenge on Ben. After most of the attacks were stopped by Max, Zombozo formed a team with Charmcaster and Vulkanus. He also appeared to have buried someone or something, due to him coming in with a shovel. Zombozo kidnapped Sandra and used her as a hostage to bring Ben, Gwen, and Kevin to his hideout. He then separated them to let Charmcaster and Vulkanus take them down one on one. His plan eventually backfired when he tried to murder Sandra in a slow and cruel way, as it caused Gwen to get really angry and transform into her Anodite form, growing to a gigantic size and shouting at him to leave the Tennyson family, as well as Kevin's family, alone. Gwen let Zombozo go to spread the word to all of their other enemies. Omniverse Zombozo returns in The More Things Change: Part 1. He now looks more zombie-like, having mottled-looking skin, and only one visible eye, like Zs'Skayr. He has flies buzzing around him, and even a tear in his suit revealing ribs. He stole a brain from Bellwood's "Brain Bank," and was pursued by Ben, Kevin, and Gwen, until they managed to trap him in a building. Lodestar quickly retrieved the container holding the brain from him - "I'm losing my mind!" He was quickly beaten and tied up for the authorities. After Gwen and Kevin left, Zombozo taunts Ben for not being able to accomplish such feats on his own. He is then struck on the head and left to be picked up. In Special Delivery, he is one of the patrons at Psyphon's Undertown auction. Once Psyphon blabs that the Dwarf Star is missing, Zombozo teams up with Fistrick and Trumbipulor to get it. However, he is beaten along with his allies by Armodrillo. Psyphon calls him back along with the other factions who wanted the prize, to team up on Ben for the star in exchange for buying it from him, but was defeated again by Humungousaur. In Something Zombozo This Way Comes, it's revealed that he somehow escaped Plumber Headquarters, locked up Jerry and put a costume of himself over Jerry to avoid being noticed about his escape. He brings back the Circus Freak Trio to feed on people's fear and turn them into zombie clowns. Ben's revived fear of clowns allowed Zombozo to return to full power, making Zombozo's body inflate. However, his fear of Toepick got the best of him and destroyed the machine containing everyone's fear. Zombozo escaped through a cannon to avoid being caught by the Plumbers. Appearances Ben 10 Season 1 *''Last Laugh'' (first appearance) Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Season 1 *''Hit 'Em Where They Live'' (first re-appearance) Ben 10: Omniverse Season 1 *''The More Things Change: Part 1'' (first re-appearance) Season 3 *''Special Delivery'' Season 5 *''Something Zombozo This Way Comes'' Comics Cartoon Network Action Packs *''The Ben 10 Alien Force Experience'' Video Games Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction Zombozo appears in Cosmic Destruction in Tokyo. He does not say why he is there, nor does Ben ask why. However, Ben does tell him to give him Cooper's location, which Zombozo denies. He then attempts to kill Ben twice, though both attempts fail pathetically, it forces Ben to defeat Zombozo as Ultimate Spidermonkey. After defeat, Zombozo laughs insanely, which only results in Ultimate Spidermonkey throwing him into a web he made. Ben then says, "Am I good? Or am I good?" Zombozo is shown being able to fly by holding on to a flying toy airplane. Etymology Zombozo's name is an amalgam on the words Zombie and Bozo, who is a famous clown played by many actors. Naming and Translations Trivia *Zombozo used to work in a school lunchroom.Special Delivery *In his first reappearance in Ultimate Alien, Ben pretended not to remember fighting Zombozo in the original series because he didn't want to admit to Kevin that he used to be afraid of clowns. *Zombozo's escape rocket from the end of Something Zombozo This Way Comes was supposed to crash on Anur Transyl, but that storyline was dropped. *Zombozo shares some similarities to the Joker from Batman. **He was voiced by John Kassir in the original series, and by John DiMaggio in Ultimate Alien. They both voiced The Joker after they voiced Zombozo. **In Ultimate Alien, Zombozo's weapons, gadgets, and laugh resemble those used by Batman's archenemy, The Joker (his electric joy buzzer and giant mallet are Joker mainstays). *His attempts to terrorize Ben into submission in the original series are closer to another famed Batman villain, Scarecrow. *Zombozo has appeared in multiple Cartoon Network 20th Anniversary commercials. In one of them, he walks in on a party between Batman, Ben, the Powerpuff Girls, and Generator Rex, which leads to their laughter to come to a halt. Aware of the reason behind their laughter, he distracts them by saying someone's in need of help in the distance, then steals some of the gifts at the party and runs off. References Crew Statements Matt Wayne Dwayne McDuffie Derrick J. 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